Football NSW Announces 2019 Dates for Female Football Week

Football NSW has announced that next year’s Female Football Week will be held during the period 25 May to 2 June 2019.

With Football NSW being the pioneer and commencing Female Football Week to coincide with Mother’s Day back in 2014, the event evolved into a national celebration around International Women’s Day from 2016.

Following Football Federations Australia’s recent announcement of a new national approach to celebrating and promoting females in football, Member Federations could again select a timing that was most suitable for the delivery of Female Football Week locally.

Stuart Hodge, Football NSW CEO, is delighted that females’ participation in football will be celebrated during the community club winter season.

“Female Football Week is always a wonderful event to highlight females involved in all aspects of football – playing, coaching, refereeing, volunteering and administration. We now have the possibility mid-season – when all of our Clubs and Associations are active and more settled into their competitions – to celebrate and promote opportunities for girls and women to become and remain involved in football.”

Feedback following the 2018 event indicated that Clubs and Associations would have more capacity to activate once the season was underway.

Hayley Todd, Head of Women’s Football at FNSW believes the timing of the 2019 week of celebrations will attract more females to not only the designated events, but more importantly the sport.

“We anticipate huge interest in activations during next year’s Female Football Week. Not only is it timed to suit our local football community, it is also scheduled in the final lead-up to the FIFA Women’s World Cup, where NSW players will feature in the Westfield Matildas squad. It is an opportune time to highlight everything the game has to offer, so that even more females want to get involved”.

Hodge made a final point “Females’ participation is integral to the success of football overall, so every week is really female football week, as we all strive towards equal representation in all areas of the game.”

Football NSW will also provide support to Football Federation Australia during the Hyundai A-League/Westfield W-League Female Football Round (23-25 November 2018) and help drive registrations, featuring female participation, during the Play Football Round (7-10 February 2019).

FFA’s national Female Football Awards will continue to be announced on 8 March 2019, International Women’s Day.